Seven Seas Cruising Association Annual Meeting Melbourne, FL, Nov. 10-13 By Roy Laughlin
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lorida’s first cold front, a windy one, arrived in midNovember, when the 2011 Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) was holding its annual meeting. The seven or eight cruising sailboats moored off the Eau Gallie pier might have given the false impression that this year’s meeting was poorly attended. Nothing was further from the truth. Some of the “missing boats” found refuge in a nearby marina, while others moored across the river out of the unseasonable waves. The Eau Gallie Civic Center was again filled with SSCA cruisers, members of the association, and those considering joining. It was as busy as usual. The SSCA program included the usual packed seminar series covering everything about cruising. This year’s seminar topics ran the gamut from What You Need to Know about Marine Insurance by Al Golden, to Refitting and Reading a Classic Cruising Yacht by Scott Loomis. Other seminar topics included communication, meteorology, life raft selection and use, and cruising different areas, particularly the Caribbean. One of the most active discussion sections occurred on the last day: the Cruising Destination Roundtables held on Sunday morning. Members with recent experience in certain geographic areas, the Panama Canal for example, led a discussion with other cruisers heading toward that destination. Experienced discussion leaders fielded questions or suggested sources to find the information. It is this type of activity in particular that characterizes the best that the SSCA has to offer its members: real-time, first-hand information exchanged in a cordial setting. The SSCA has held its annual meeting in Melbourne for many years. Attendance was lower this year than in recent
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January 2012
SOUTHWINDS
years. Judith Mkam, SSCA managing director, said that Hurricane Irene temporarily stopped some members in the Carolinas or points northward, and some other regular attendees Pam Wall and her late husband, simply decided to go Andy, received the 2011 Seven Seas cruising this year. Mkam Award from SSCA for their many also acknowledged that years of assisting other cruisers and serving as exemplary models of the economy certainly is Seven Seas Cruising Association a factor that has reduced cruisers. SSCA’s growth in membership. The organization has 7000 members, a good proportion of whom are cruising throughout the world. Perhaps some of those will be back at the annual meeting next year. The annual meeting is always a time for the organization to discuss how it will continue to support its cruising members during the coming year. Updating the SSCA website was the first point that newsletter editor Barbara Theisen mentioned as an important new effort. The redesigned website will include “discussion boards” on different subjects operated in a blog format. Cruisers can look for information on the blog pages, or add new information. These blogs will be vetted by Mkam and other SSCA management members to ensure reliability and quality. Both SSCA members and non-members may contribute, but contributions by members will be flagged. The content of the different information boards goes back “indefinitely,” according to Theisen. The first posts, made years ago, were made using the bulletin board software available at the time. The Internet has changed procedures for accessing the information, but the organization will make everything that it has available on the redesigned website. A couple of years ago, the SSCA began offering online instruction, referred to as SSCA U. These begin as live, online seminars. They are “for pay,” and cover the gamut of knowledge and skills cruisers need to safely and enjoyably pursue the cruising lifestyle. SSCA U has become one of the association’s most extensive outreach efforts. Mkam said that over 400 cruisers have taken more than one course, “a pretty good indication they like what they get.” Mkam said that the availability of SSC U may be influencing attendance at the annual meeting. Cruisers can get online what they used to have to come to Melbourne to get www.southwindsmagazine.com